Court Asked to Rule on Status in Canada of Chief Rabbi Hertz

November 6, 1934

Montreal (Nov. 5)

The status in Canada of Chief Rabbi J. H. Hertz of England, was under question today by an application made before the local courts to refer to him several disputed points concerning the petition of the Jewish Community Council of Montreal to prevent Isomar Brenner from acting as a schochet. An interim injunction has already been granted in the case.

The questions to be asked relate to the powers of a local Jewish Community Council, of the right of a slaughterer to function without the sanction of such a body and of the right of the council, under Jewish religious law, to disqualify a slaughterer not authorized by that organization.

Defense attorneys suggested that the Chief Rabbi for Great Britain had no official authority in Canada, in view of the fact the Jewish faith had no official single head as in the case of the Roman Catholic religion. The defense pointed out that the rights of religious bodies in Canada are regulated by a law and suggested that the opinion of the Chief Rabbi for Great Britain might or might not be accepted by local Jews as authoritative on the matters on which he was asked to pronounce.

Leon Crestohl, for the plaintiffs, suggested that the Chief Rabbi for Great Britain was the acknowledged head of the Jewish faith in this country, since he was recognized as Chief Rabbi of the British Empire. He denied a statement that even in England the Portuguese and Spanish Jews did not recognize Rabbi Hertz. The application was taken under advisement.